As posted few days ago that COTD is selling TomTom and Ipod Nano for only $99. Did anyone manage to catch it? I tried whole morning (WA) but could not get to the webby due to heavy traffic. It makes me skeptical about their deals as it is too good to be true. I am not sure if they can't get the deals for us, hence, the heavy web traffic error. After 3-4 hrs of trying, I managed to get into it but the Ipod was apparently sold out. So thte question is, did anyone manage to catch it?
COTB - 2nd Birthday
Lcheesok on 29/10/2008 - 19:10
Comments
yayyyy just bought a Wii for $199 :D
Looks like I am lucky today
proof?
good on you, mate.. i thought the deal wasn't real! hehe
The deal was real but probability that you would get it was less then 0.0001 .To make a purchase you need to go through a 4 step process, let's say 1 out of 10 attemts to load a Web page was successful (I am optimistic here - reality was much worse) : 0.1 x 0.1 x 0.1 x 0.1 = 0.0001. So it was close to the lottery and it was the one. I was totally disappointed and frustrated. I did not like that site before and I do not like it now even more.
I refreshed the page on the tomtom on the minute sharp and got through, as usual I got a few time out and up til the page where i enter my credit card info and hit submit, the site said sold out. it's only the 4th minute. I think they are using those to attract traffic to rid the rubbish (not tomtom, wii, ipod, but i doubt there were more than 1 of those out for sale). eg. the RC chopper was like always $4.95 over at shopping square… I am sure I would not recommend any of my friends over there.
Interesting blog post by a (soon to be) ex CoTD staffer. Very revealing on CoTDs dodgy business practices and ethics.
"A while ago, QQQ and pals went to a store and bought 10 Nintendo Wiis from a retail store at the normal retail cost of $399. They then cut $200 off the price and resold them as part of the Birthday Bash. It was the same story for many of our headline sales."
WOW! What…the…fark. This blog post is HIGHLY entertaining, and I'm only half way through!
Oh, but it gets better!
"Naturally, as customer service I have to review people's orders. I noticed that every time I open up someone's order (hundreds of times a day), in the source of the page is the customer's full credit card details. This is sent from the off-site server over an unencrypted connection. Every time I viewed someone's order, the customer's credit card details were completely exposed."
That blog entry is a real wake up call for all COTD customers. False sales, lying about products, no stock during sales and that CC problem, Those problems are big. Kudos to the soon to be ex for posting that. From what I read from he's blog, I hope COTD goes down the drain.
Its a real good read and a very worthwhile read too.I suggest anyone who tried to buy an item from COTD to read this blog
This should be up for headline.. I knew they were not many stock around !!
Stock levels
Nintendo Wii 10
Sony Playstation 2 20
Tom Tom GPS 30
Samsung camera 50
Kenwood Steamer 50
iPod Nano 4GB 50
Samsung DVD 50
Daewoo 70
Mini Remote Control Helicopter 100
Celine Dion perfume 200
1.5" Digital Photo Frame 300I doubt they haf 30 TomTom and 50 Ipod Nano… As far as I am aware, Apple products are controlled items, which means, the retailer can't simply reduce the price.. even in Myer when they have special 10% discount on all electrical products, they have a fine print to exclude Apple products.. how isit possible for COTD to sell Ipod Nano for that cheap, especially, when the Ipod is a new released!
They did show video with around 50 or so iPods, so I don't doubt they ever had them.
All of their stock numbers were kinda low, so I don't think they'd lie about that.
And the 4th Gen 4Gb iPod was a bit of 'hurry up all sell this so we can pretend they never happen. Love Steve" kinda thing, so who knows lol
Be careful - Apple cant control the price of any product directly - that's against the law. Trade Practice Act forbids price setting. Now how come ipods aren't on sale - it's probably because the margins are so low that selling with any discount would mean no profit.
@[Deactivated]: They can control the price of their product if the shops are acting as "agents" of Apple, instead of just retailers.
And yes, the margin is extremely low.
Hmm. Interesting. Thanks for sharing that. I can foresee that "someone" is going to be in a lot of trouble — either CotD (because of lost of customers) or the soon-to-be ex-employee (potentially law-suit?)
While it is interesting to see an "inside story", I wonder what other dodgy stories are there behind the companies often posted here on OzBargain. It's like, you know, never go to the back kitchen of any Chinese restaurant. Once you see what's really going on there, you might not want to visit again no matter how delicious the food might be…
I have been quite satisfied with all the purchases from COTD thus far.. but the birthday bash seriously let me down.. I was so disappointed with COTD. The week before the sale, someone uploaded the advertisement showing that TomTom GPS was goin on sale for $99! I was telling myself, that is too good to be true.. But I decided to give COTD the benefit of the doubt.. So I didn't purchase the 4.3" Tom Tom from Dick Smith for $269, anticipating that I will get the catch.. So on that day, I tried log into COTD and couldn't get in.. I was frustrated and even frustrated when I saw the TomTom has sold out jus 1 min.. becos of COTD, i missed the 4.3" deal.. wat a great job, COTD… I am totally disappointed with COTD and will not trust their birthday bash or watsoever anymore..
Here is another thing I picked up on. Cheesok said he/she wanted to buy the Ipod Nano but couldnt because is was sold out. Now from what I read in the blog, he said the website was so clogged that for the entire one hour the Ipod nano was on sale, only person completed a checkout. So there is 49 left. How the hell does this happen if there are conflicting arguments. Now somewhere is very fishy.
This is a totally dodgy website and service.
I din say that someone managed to buy one ipod from COTD. Blugok managed to buy the Wii for $199. Read following (copied from above):
Blugok on 29/10/2008 - 20:53 ¶
yayyyy just bought a Wii for $199 :DLooks like I am lucky today
reply
elcheapo on 31/10/2008 - 21:52 ¶
proof?reply
cheesok on 29/10/2008 - 20:56 ¶
good on you, mate.. i thought the deal wasn’t real! hehe
can someone put the whole thing up
I think this blog may have been removed. 5 mins ago I could access it but now I cant and its not on her page either.
Lets have a Poll
Will COTD go down the drain??
1.Yes, very soon
2.Yes, but might take some time
3.No, COTD is my favorite store
Sounds like alot of nonsense from a whiny snitch who's been sacked…. Between us at work, we must have purchased over 50 times from these guys, always great deals. Even on the birthday we managed to score about 5 items between us. Anyway, I don't think it's the right thing to do by this guy…. but whatever….
quiet u, ur not fooling anyone u undercover COTD worker
Scott07 has been an OzB member for 3 weeks, and has only commented 5 times all of which were on COTD items. You must be quite the fan.
It seems like you haven't even bothered to read his blog entry. He wasn't sacked, he tendered his resignation. So what if you have purchased over 50 times from them, thats not the point of the blog entry. It's about their business ethics and practices. Non-encryption of payment details. Yes, that means THEY HAVE YOUR CREDIT DETAILS on record and one hack attempt could mean we become victims of fraud.
Next time I suggest you read a blog post more carefully before you comment….but whatever…
Even though the blogger claims he quit, I'm not 100% convinced of that.
Earlier on his blog he states that he was fired once, then was given another chance. Who's to say he wasn't fired again this time. He certain seems to have a long running issue with management, and is disgruntled for reasons other than just the way COTD treats their customers.
This worries me greatly…
New update from Ayvah here -> http://ayvah.livejournal.com/226599.html
Looks like COTD boss is threatening to sue.
COTD is too cheap to drag this through the legal system. Their words have a history of being very cheap :)
Suing the guy would only bring more attention to it anyway.
I think one thing for sure is — spur-of-the-moment post is not good to anyone who is involved, no matter how truthful it is… Hopefully everything will be peacefully resolved.
Has anyone received there COTD birthday orders yet??
Im still waiting on notification that my ipod/camera have been sent, nothing so far….
I've just received my item from the bday bash.
what u get?
I keep refreshing and the only thing I really saw that is catchable is some photoframe…very disappointed, so dodgy!